My friend's a Western Hindu (music video)

Hare Rama Hare Krishna: "Dum Maro Dum"

Back in 1971 India had a hippie problem, a bunch of Western potheads coming to Rishikesh, Haridwar, the circuit extending from Buddhist Afghanistan, through Kashmir, and all the places bands like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd were tripping through or singing about back in the heyday of hippies. Indians were aggrieved that so many Western burnouts came up into the Himalayas to smoke ganja out of yogi pipes and worship Hindu deities or practice bhakti, that is, devotion the way the Christians do for their deities.

Dum Maro Dum translates as "Puff, take a puff," a reference to the ingenue's innocence being corrupted by those damn hippies are their weed worship. Will her big brother save her in time? What if she gets caught up in that "free love" movement of theirs? She might kiss someone in public!

Jesus of India was also an object of veneration for both Indian Hindus and Western converts. It got so bad, Bollywood made a popular movie about it, the Hare Rama Hare Krishna (Rama = God, Krishna = Krist figure) film, which follows a wayward girl gone wild and the loving brother who searches for her among those demented, drug-addled burnouts. It's kitschy, as most Bollywood fare is, then as now, but it sure boosted Krishna's popularity that would soon give rise to the Hare Krishna (ISKCON) Movement in the U.S.

One can see how our cultural appropriation gets a little wearing on Indians

"Dum Maro Dum" may be the best track in the score. It's a Hindi song from the film with Dev Anand and Zeenat Aman in the lead. The song was conceived of by RD Burman. It's Indian psychedelic rock classic.